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Friday, May 30, 2014

Moving in the sounds of
ASTRA, Genesis, Camel, King Crimson and White Willow, it’s hard to imagine
following into the footsteps of the vintage Progressive Rock sound and
capturing the essence of the 1970s. But for Julien Gaullier, who composed the
music and wrote the lyrics along founding Spleen Arcana, his voice resembles at
times Andy Latimer as if he has given the torch to him and is very proud of
what he is doing and capturing the sounds of the golden-era of the progressive
rock genre like a flaming fire.

Spleen Arcana has been
around for five years and its one of the most up-and-coming trio groups that
really show the essence and the vision like a flower opening to reveal its
glory for the sun to rise and shine. Their new album, The Light Beyond the Shades, is almost like a trip back in time and its very elevating, exploring, spiritual and atmospheric. And while this is my introduction to
Spleen Arcana’s music, I have to say I’m completely blown away from what I’m
hearing from start to finish.

You can feel the vibration
of the psychedelic and progressive sound of the late ‘60s/early ‘70s with the
opener, Erin Shores, as the band go
into work. Julien has a soothing vocal and he gives a lot of ideas to have a
calming vibration as he plays both the instruments including Guitar, Bass,
Keyboards, Bodhran, and Mandolin while David Perron plays drums and background
vocalist Marie Guillaumet lends a helping hand to Julien.

At times, the track while it
reminds me of the Mirage-era of Camel
and bits of the obscure Welsh Prog group, Blonde on Blonde from their Rebirth sessions, the guitar and the
Mellotron shine through into the clouds and moments of the Hammond Organ comes
in handy to give it a shining momentum on the solo work between the two
instruments (Guitar and Organ) as they play the melody as if it’s a
spellbinding combination and knowing that its capturing the emotional
boundaries of fantasy throughout the lyrics.

The electronic and
captivating touches on Fading Away,
has more of a futuristic surrounding and dealing with the loss of a loved one
or a friend that has passed on, but the memories of him/her has them in their
mind and knowing they haven’t forgotten them. However there is some wonderful keyboard and
classical guitar touches on there that gives it a relaxation as Julien and
Marie help out on the vocalization in the midsection and then the harder edge
comes in on the rhythm section on guitar and drums as it goes into this homage
to Bigelf that is a marching beat combining the classical mix as everything is
combined into one.

The closing 24-minute epic, Memento Mori, begins with a mellotron
string atmosphere that is almost straight out of the 1999 film, The Virgin
Suicides for the first minute and eighteen seconds before Julien’s voice comes
in. There are some mind-blowing unexpected yet out of the blue with
jaw-dropping moments in the passages that is on this piece. There are elements
of Heavy, Space, Symphonic, Rock Progressivo Italiano, and Melodic structures
that are in this finale and Spleen Arcana show a lot of gratitude here in this
composition.

This is my eleventh time
listening to The Light Beyond the Shades
and I’m completely hooked into the world of Spleen Arcana’s music. And for me, while
this is my introduction to the band’s music, I had a real blast listening to
this and I can’t wait to see what Julien has up his sleeves for the near
future.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

It’s this wonderful combination of both Indie Rock and Folk music and for Sasha Markovic in which I was blown away from his debut work on Yagull’s Films sees him going into an acoustic approach. And with help from Sarah Schrift on Lead Vocals and Guitar, and Kana Kamitsubo on Piano, sees this wonderful line-up called The Sours, and their debut album, sees them go into some directions and elements between the sounds of Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, Iron & Wine, and Laura Veirs flown in.

At times it feels like there were songs that could have been used in films like, The Royal Tenenbaums and Juno to name a few. But each composition on this album, it has a melodic, emotional, and catchy boundary that just makes you feel that hits you right at home at times. And Sarah’s voice is so gentle, beautiful, and soft as if she is comforting the listener as Sasha’s guitar helps out to give it that warmth sunrise for a beginning to start a new day and a new beginning by relieving the stress and not letting yourself down. And experiencing five centerpieces that will make you have an understanding on The Sours music.

Songs like Wish, has these moving Piano chords that Kana does, and the lyrics dealing with finding out on who you are throughout the lyrics and it has these wonderful homage to Dave Davies’ lyrics and almost straight out of the sessions for The Kinks Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneyground, Volume One while Seawitch has this down-home folky yet country-styled sound that is perfect for snapping your fingers and tapping your feet to dance and sing.

Then there’s the emotional beauty opener, Everwas which Sasha is almost fingerpicking through the notes as Sarah sings with such amazement on lyrics like “Pour another feeling/Screaming outside screaming/ I don’t call your name/ I don’t know you now/ I’m the same as I ever was.” She captures the essence on remembering the past and people trying to remember whom their friends were, but they don’t as they start a new chapter with starting a family and not looking back on the present and focusing the future.

Gnt offers Kana to go into a wonderful piano melody as Sasha plays both the rhythm and lead parts on his acoustic guitar and tapping the beats as almost as if the guitar was almost a percussion instrument. You could tell there’s almost a reminiscent of the Bryter Layter-era of Nick Drake’s music and the double-vocals that Sarah does is really spot on and just makes you want to travel to different parts between the States and Europe.

The closing track, Eeget, is a chilling composition. And it is almost as it was recorded inside a deep, dark empty cavern with the water dripping down as the spotlight is on Sarah and giving this deeply yet ominous piece and she nails it on the notes and it is simply stunning as if its almost like the dawn approaching for a chance to see light for freedom.

So far, this is my 9th time listening to The Sours debut album and who knows where they will go to next, but this is soon going to be one of my favorite albums that I've listened to and it is worth checking out for fans of the Indie Rock/Folk sound and it is a must listen to album from start to finish. It is shown that Sasha has come a long way from the Yagull debut and the road is hopefully ready for him to see where he between his projects with that and The Sours will take him to.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

It is I think one of the most interesting yet eruptive
up-and-coming bands from Italy. And their debut album released from the My
Kingdom Music label, shows that they have a lot of potential and a dosage of
the Progressive, Extreme and Symphonic Metal sound that is like a cannonball
waiting to attack and Embrace of Disharmony who have formed eight years ago in
Rome, have shown they are carrying the flag to let the followers and the genre
know that while they have a long way to go, they can take into a different
area.

Following in the footsteps of Opeth, Symphony X, Epica, and
Amberian Dawn at times, the band considers; Gloria Zanotti on Vocals, Leonardo
Barcaroli on Bass/Fretless Bass, Matteo Salvarezza on Guitar and Harsh Vocals,
Orchestra Programming, and Emilano Cantiano on Drums/Percussions. And adding to
the collaborations; Susanna Coltre on Piano and Keyboards, Paolo Caiti on
backing vocals, and Francesco Bianchi on Synths.

And once add guests from members including Orphaned Land,
Angra, Symphony X, and Eldritch, you know something amazing is about to happen.
Their debut album, Humananke, which
they worked on during late 2012 and completed, last year in October, is their volcanic
entrance. The usage of the keyboards and distinctive time signature changes
gives the band a chance to get the steam engine rolling on seeing which
direction they would go into whether it’s a heavier, mellowing, orchestral, or
ominous passage tones the band deciding which road they would take.

At times, it is like an epic score for an action film they
would do and give it an electrical jolt to give it a huge wake-up call from the
people in the audience. The best four highlights from the album are the
haunting turned Power Metal charge on Dirge
on a Soul Staring at the Stars – offers a heavy bass work, the mourning
bell tones, the alarming guitar riffs and solos, haunting keyboard work and the
vocals just makes it tell a story and not to mention the militant snare drum
work before going into overdrive with the growling voice coming at you to reign
terror and guitars carrying the sound of Queen’s Brian May from the earlier
days before mellowing down as the lunatic screams in terror to be out of its
asylum from hell as the haunting piano closes the piece.

Elsewhere, The Edge of
Nowhere, which features Kobi Fahri on Vocals from Orphaned Land and mind
blowing bass work from Mike Lepond of Symphony X. It starts off with a
dream-like middle-eastern atmosphere before Bianchi goes into his homage to
Arjen “Ayreon” Lucassen on the synth solo and the classical boundaries comes
swirling in like a jet engine with the violin and percussion setting the catchy
tone. The opening 10-minute track, Shards
of Apocalypse, begins with the keyboard strings and horn section setting
the post-dystopian setting with a Danny Elfman vibe for a Tim Burton film in
the late ‘80s as if they had done the score for Batman before getting into the
rumbling extreme sound and the beauty and the beast vocalization comes in and
then during the last few minutes, they do a reminiscent of the Vision-era from Haken that is uplifting
and gothic to survive after the apocalypse.

Then, it’s the killing composition that is like another
bullet train going in about 600 miles per hour on The Eternal Champion. Followed by a drum crescendo, a nightmarish
keyboard intro, and almost sounding like a duo guitar solo that has at times,
the combinations of guitarists Dave Murray and Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden
along with K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest, it’s a wonderful
storytelling on Michael Moorcock’s vision of The Dreaming City and the anti-hero of Elric of Melnibone after
slaying his cousin, Cymoril and ending with a snarling vocal and Gloria’s gentle
voice and classical guitar and then back into the Extreme metal like a flaming
fire going out to explode.

I have listened to the album about three times now and it’s
a very good and interesting debut they have unleashed. Now is it an amazing
album? No, but they have something up in their hearts and in their minds as
what they have brought onto the table. Humananke
is a transfixing debut that will hopefully get the band some recognition and
word-of-mouth from the Metal community and receive attention. An effective
introduction to the world from Embrace of Disharmony.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Indonesian guitarist virtuoso Tohapti is back and may have
unleashed something special and a mind-blowing experience. He has been a very
busy man with his work with Bertiga and Ethnomission and of course, SimakDialog
and there is no stop sign for him. This year, he released Tribal Dance featuring Bassist Jimmy Haslip (Donald Fagen, Jeff
Beck, Blackjack and Yellowjackets) and Zappa alumni drummer Chad Wackerman. It
shows Tohpati, Wackerman, and Haslip, going through various motions in the
styles of music and intense workout from the trio to go into a heavier
overdrive, into experimentation's, and atmospheric/ambient beauty to go along
with it.

And yet with these three motions of the music along with the
sound of Jazz Fusion come into place, it shows how Tohpati can really take you
into different areas with his Guitar. And throughout his projects and of course
with SimakDialog, he can take it to a whole new level and help get the sounds
of World Music and Jazz a big push and here on his new album, he takes the
steps further and soars into the blue skies into amazement.

Opener, Rahwana, is
an up-tempo driven yet experimental piece that starts the album off with a bang
as the trio go into town and Tohpati goes through the McLaughlin and Holdsworth
phrase with rhythm and the riffs to capture the speeding train going 600 miles
per hour but mellowing down and then heading into the electronic void while
getting back into the rhythm. Elsewhere,
Spirit of Jawa, rides through the
ominous tones of the sinister/haunting reminiscent of the Red-era of King
Crimson, early Sabbath, and the Rock-in-Opposition sounds of Belgium group,
Present.

And then, after the first couple of minutes, they go through
a shuffle-like Fusion sound as they have a lot of intense vibes as Wackerman
and Tohpati try to duel one another between drum and guitar solo as Chad goes
all over the place before heading back into the haunting tones to close the
piece while the title track which Tohpati is using his Guitar of going through
a synthesizer of the sample-and-hold touch, goes through a mellowing relaxation
and at times its bluesy and mid-fast, but know which direction the time changes
goes through.

Savana is a short
little atmospheric/ambient guitar introduction before it segues into the
soaring yet uplifting skies on Run. Here,
Tohpati is getting the jams going through his instrument with the shuffling
touches as he gives Jimmy Haslip a chance to breathe in with his bass exercise.
You could tell there are moments in which he is paying homage to Stanley Clarke
and Jaco Pastorius as Red Mask goes
through a nice tribute to the Duke-era of Genesis by reminiscing the song, Turn it On Again and bits of the ‘90s-era
of Pink Floyd from the sessions of The Division
Bell.

Supernatural begins
with a mourning Tuvan throat-singing before it goes into a Post-Rock touch as
it becomes an adventurous momentum with some Fripp-esque touches to capture
that electrical voltage on where the trio would go next as the closer, Midnight Rain, is an experimental
finale. Tohpati creates these mysterious and strange yet surreal beauty on the
instrument to have this rain pouring down on the streets with his Gilmour-like
sound for a chance to see a clear blue sky and hopefully to see the dawn
settling in and the sun to come up at the right moment at the right time.

Tribal Dance is
very much a big out of the blue jaw-dropping album from Tohpati. And here, this
is an album that is a wonderful adventure for the listener to experience. And
with help from Chad Wackerman and Jimmy Haslip, it shows that Tohpati offers a
chance to relax and after listening of over seven times on here, his new album released by the good people from
Moonjune Records, is a must have album for 2014.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

The Canterbury sound of the late ‘60s and the golden-era of
the 1970s has been home to many in that circuit from bands like; Caravan, Soft
Machine, Khan, Egg, and Hatfield and the North. But there was one band that was
a part of that scene that had a disturbing, beautiful, yet ominous sound of the
Acid Folk scene in the 1970s and that band was Spirogyra. Taken their name from
a single-cell organism, the group was formed in the late ‘60s by Martin
Cockerham as it started originally as a duo, but then Martin decided to added
three people who were a part of the Kent University folk club during that time
period.

Alongside Cockerham, the band also considered Barbara Gaskin
on vocals, Steve Borrill on Bass Guitar, and Julian Cusack on violin. And last
year, the good people at Esoteric Recordings have finally given the three
Spirogyra albums the reissue treatment it deserves. Their first album, St. Radigunds, originally released on the B&C record label in
1971, Along with special help from Dave Mattacks on Drums and VCS3 synthesizer
by Tony Cox, the band received some recognition and with Martin’s lyrics that
took a political level and look into different territories that is well
deserved and it hits you like a kick in the gut from the moment you put the
album on. And not to mention, enduring the band’s five centerpieces.

Songs like the ominous, The
Future Won’t Be Long, deals with a story that before the war came around
through the mind of a story-teller that everything was for the working man by
going through dealers in honest trade, but some who knew their place and
situation while and the right woman for him and then everything goes to hell.
The intense acoustic guitar strumming along with Cusack’s violin is powerful
that reminiscent of Graham Smith of String Driven Thing and Colin Pearson of
Comus while Cockerham and Gaskin’s vocals sets the situation and tension with a
view of what is to come.

Time Will Tell,
starts off with Cusack’s haunting violin introduction that is touching as
Borrill’s bass and Martin’s rhythm guitar and Barbara’s gentle vocals comes in.
The song deals with death and its telling the listener, if you are not happy of
living in the corrupted world, you might as well have to suffer through it, but
at the end she sings “What you want to be
you must try to be, you will all be free.” Meaning whatever you want to be,
you will be free from all of the difficult situations. It is disturbing, yet
strong lyrical backgrounds and it opens eyes on what is happening right in the
past, present and now in the 21st century.

Then there’s the fantasy with the heavy acoustic strumming
on Magical Mary with some thunderous
bass and violin duel that has a mid-tempo along with the guitar in which it includes
a chugging sound and the drums to give it a dream-like atmosphere with a
psychedelic tense while the fingerpicking touches on Captain’s Log, has the Captain writing the last days of his life in
his journal and not knowing when they are going to survive or not in the
thunderous yet dangerous oceans they are in.

The closer, The Duke
of Beaufoot, begins with a classical-guitar introduction and featuring the
VCS3 synthesizer going into a high and low frequency as the Bass/Violin comes
in as Cockerham’s voice comes into the picture as he tells the story about who
the character is. He sings at times like Roger Wootton and bits of Chris Adams
of String Driven Thing flown in there, and then Barbara comes in the last verse
as the tempo gets a little faster but then calms down in the last few minutes
by becoming a ballad as both Martin and Barbara do a duet together as if the
sun had shined up and the climatic bass/violin/guitar rhythm section gives it a
big push.

I have listened to St.
Radigunds, about 10 times already and I am simply blown away from what I’ve
heard from a band that was ahead of their time. And they can write and tell a
story throughout their music in the history of Acid and Progressive Folk by
giving it a huge jolt. They are now one of my favorite bands to come out of the
1970s. And hats off to the liner notes by Sid Smith, who received help from Richard Morton-Jack of Sunbeam Records, Rick Biddulph who would later join the group in 1971 playing Mandolin, the blogsite It's Psychedelic Baby, Max Kimber, and Max Hole, who was Spirogyra's manager, for a lot of credit on the research they did on preparing for the notes.

So if you love Comus, Trees, Mellow Candle, and Spriguns, Spirogyra are the band you need to check out.

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About Me

I'm a blogger/freelance writer from Houston, TX who writes album reviews because I enjoy it. Even though, I'm not the best writer, there is no stop sign for me. I have a love of Progressive Rock music, Jazz Fusion, and Early Heavy Metal music from the '60s to the early '80s. I went to HCC (Houston Community College) for nine years and have completed my degree in Music in Performance: Jazz Studies. I've been writing Progressive Rock and Symphonic Metal reviews starting back in 2008 on my blogsite and it never gets old.